Flexible finger support

ABSTRACT

A flexible finger support for use with a mechanized poultry picking apparatus, the support being formed from relatively thin metallic stock as is the current custom. An open-ended tubular member is affixed to the support at each of the locations thereon where it is desired to position a flexible picking finger. The tubular member functions to increase the contact area between the finger and the support to retard breakage of the finger at the support-engaging shoulder thereof.

limited States Crane l ateiit I191 Mar. 12, 1974- FLEXIBLE FINGERSUPPORT [75] Inventor: Edward .1]. Crane, Ottumwa, Iowa [73] Assignee:International Agri-Systems, llnc., Ottumwa, Iowa [22] Filed: Oct. 1,1971 [21] Appl. No: 185,694

52 us. Cl ....."17/'i1.1 R [51] Int. Cl. A221; 21/02 [58] Field ofSearch17/11, 11.1 R, 45, 47

[56] References Cited 1 UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,300,157 10/1942 Hunt17/ll.1 R 2,543,372 2/1951 Mueller l7/l1.1 R 3,557,942 1/1971 Crane l7/1l.l R

3,599,278 8/1971 Crane 17/11.] R

Primary Examiner-Louis G. Mancene Assistant Examiner-D. L. WeinholdAttorney, Agent, or Firm-Price, Heneveld, Huizenga & Cooper 5 7]ABSTRACT the finger at the support-engaging shoulder thereof.

10 Claims, 6 Drawing Figures BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This inventionrelates to flexible picking finger supports suitable for use withmechanized poultry picking apparatus and, more particularly, to a fingersupport embodying means for retarding finger breakage at thesupport-engaging sections thereof.

It has been customary, in the past, to form flexible picking fingersupports for poultry picking machines from metallic stock. Thispastconvention has dictated the forming of an aperture or hole in thestock at those locations on the support where it was desired to positiona flexible picking finger.

The material from which the supports are fabricated, ordinarily, isrelatively thin due to a desire to economize upon the weight of thesupport, its cost and the like. The boundaries of the finger receivingapertures therefor have also been relatively thin.

The picking fingers are attached to the support by means of areduced-diameter shoulder portion which is received by the aperture. Thefinger is expanded on either side of this reduced diameter shoulderportion to retain it in attachment with the support. Difficulties havebeen encountered in the past because of a tendency of the finger toshear off at its reduced-diameter portion even though the actualpoultry-contacting portion of the finger was relatively new. Thisdifficulty, it is believed, has been caused primarily by the rathershort length of the shoulder or neck portion, the rather thin nature ofthe surrounding support material and, thus, the tendency for stresses tolocalize at a rather confined section of the finger.

It is an object of this invention, therefore, to provide a poultrypicking support wherein the previously existing tendency for stresses tolocalize at a relatively small section of the picking finger will beeliminated.

It is an object of this invention, more particularly, to provide asupport of the general type described wherein the contact area betweenthe finger and the support is substantially increased and, yet, whereinthe overall weight and amount of material required to make the supportdo not vary significantly from previously available supports.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The aforementioned objects of this inventionare accomplished by improving the conventional picking support toinclude an open-ended tubular member fixedly mounted to the support atthose locations whereat it is desired to position a flexible pickingfinger. The tubular member has an axial length exceeding the thicknessof the support and forms an elongated aperture through the supportadapted to receive and retain a flexible picking finger therewithin,thereby increasing the otherwise available contact area between thesupport and the finger affixed thereto.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is an end elevational view of aconventional or prior art picking support and drive mechanism therefor;

FIG. 2 is a fragmentary plan view taken from the interior side of asupport embodying the teachings of this invention;

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view taken along plane III- -III of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary, plan view of a modified embodiment of thisinvention employing a means to prevent the picking fingers from rotatingwith respect to the support during use;

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view taken along plane VV of FIG. 4; and

FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view taken along plane VI-VI of FIG. 4.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring initially to FIG. 1which illustrates a typical prior-art picking support 10 such as shownin this inventors prior US. Pat. No. 3,551,942 issued Jan. 5, 1971, theconventional support includes a body section 1 1 containing a pluralityof apertures 15. The body section 11, of course, is hollow on theinterior thereof and any conventional means is provided for gainingaccess to the support interior to replace picking fingers.

The support illustrated in FIG. 1 has been fabricated from sheet metalhaving a thickness of approximately Vs inch. The various flexiblepicking fingers 12 are retained on the support by pulling the fingerthrough an aperture and allowing the necked-down or reduced diameterportion thereof to nest in the aperture with the head abutting the backside of the support and the expanded upper section of the fingerabutting the exterior of the support.

The picking support 10 is affixed to a shaft 13 driven from a suitablegear box 14. The support in operation, is rotated adjacent and acrossfrom a number of similar supports and the birds to be defeathered areconveyed between the supports. As the bird comes into contact with thefingers on a particular support, the feathers of the bird are wiped awayas will be readily appreciated by those skilled in the art.

Referring now to FIGS. 2 and 3, the novel support structure 20 issimilar to that described in conjunction with FIG. 1 with the exceptionthat at each of the finger receiving apertures there is provided anopen-ended tubular member 21 having a flared shoulder 27 formedintegrally therewith. The tubular member 21 has an axial length 22 whichexceeds substantially the thickness of the material from which thesupport 20 is fabricated. The thickness of member 22, for example, mightbe in the neighborhood of A: inch and the axial length 22 of tubularmember 21 approximately inch.

The tubular member may be affixed to the support material 22 in anyconventional fashion. The components, ordinarily, will both befabricated from metallic stock and may be welded together at theexterior periphery of shoulder 27 and, where desirable, the boundarybetween the exterior surface of support 22 and tubular member 21.

The picking finger 30 is pulled through the aperture in tubular member31 from the interior thereof until the head 33 snubs against theshoulder 27. The neckeddown portion 31 of picking finger 30 is sized inlength such that when the head 33 is in such abutment, the expandedportion 34 of the upper finger extremity will expand over the oppositeextremity of tubular member 21 to retain the finger in position.

It is desirable, it should be noted, to provide a fillet at bothextremities of the neck 31 of rubber picking finger 30 and,additionally, to round the interior extremities of the tubular member 21in the manner shown to accommodate the fillet 32. This fillet has beenfound to increase the breaking strength of the fingers substantially byminimizing localized stressing of the neck portion of the finger whichhas been found to be present if a sharp corner is provided.

The tubular members 21 will be provided, of course, at each locationordinarily on the picking support 20 where it is desired to position afinger. In utilization of the apparatus, they will function to preventlocalized over-stressing of the neck portion of the finger reducingsubstantially the possibility that a particular finger will be shearedoff at the neck section even though the picking portion thereof remainsin good working condition. The shoulder 27 will provide a firm base forthe under surface of head 33 and, additionally, prevent feathers fromcollecting between the finger head and the support interior. The instantinvention functions, thus, not only to reduce breakage of the fingersbut, additionally, to permit a particular picking apparatus to functionefficiently over relatively prolonged periods of time without thenecessity for frequent shut-down and finger replacement.

Referring now to FIGS. 4 through 6, there is illustrated a modified formof the instant invention. This particular embodiment is adapted forutilization in situations where it is desirable that the finger not bepermitted to rotate with respect to the support. This desire isencountered, ordinarily, in the usage of those styles of picking fingerswhich are flattened toward their picking extremities as opposed to beingentirely symmetrical about a central axis.

The embodiment illustrated in FIGS. 4 through 6 is designed forutilization with a picking finger 60 having a head 62 which is generallyrectangular in shape (see FIG. 4). The embodiment includes an open-endedtubular member 50 mounted on the support 22' furnishing the advantagesdiscussed in connection with the embodiment of FIGS. 2 and 3. Member 50includes a cylindrical section 51 and a flared shoulder 57. In theembodiment of FIGS. 4 through 6 there are included two segmentedcircular metallic rails 52 which, as illustrated, may conveniently beformed integrally with the member 50. The parallel faces of the railsare spaced, of course, a slightly greater distance than thecorresponding dimension of the finger head 62 which is to seatthereinto.

The embodiment of FIGS. 4 through 6 positively prohibits any turning ofthe finger once it has been placed in position in the support since anysuch tendency will be resisted by the abutment of the parallel portionsof head 62 against the rails 52. Such prevention is accomplished, asnoted previously, while retaining the advantages of the enlarged contactarea between the support and the finger, thereby eliminating localizedstresses as discussed previously.

The embodiment of this invention illustrated in FIGS. 4 through 6 doesnot, as shown, include the filleted portions between the finger, neck,head and body portions discussed previously in connection with FIGS. 2and 3. It may be desirable in many situations, however, to provide suchfilleted boundaries on the finger and conforming surface configurationson the member 50.

While preferred embodiments of this invention have been described indetail, it will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art thatother embodiments may be conceived and fabricated without departing fromthe spirit and scope of this invention. Such other embodiments are to bedeemed included within the scope of the following claims unless theseclaims, by their language, expressly state otherwise.

I claim:

1. A flexible finger support for use with a mechanized poultry pickingapparatus, said support being hollow, formed from relatively thinmaterial and having a plurality of apertures therein for receiving andretaining flexible picking fingers, at least one of said aperturescomprising an open-ended tubular member fixedly mounted to said supportand communicating between the hollow interior and exterior thereof, saidtubular member having an axial length substantially exceeding thethickness of said support, said member forming an elongated aperturethrough said support adapted to receive and retain a flexible pickingfinger therewithin thereby increasing the otherwise available stresscontact area between said support and the finger affixed thereto.

2. The support as set forth in claim 1 wherein the interior axialextremities of said member are rounded.

3. In combination with the support set forth in claim 2, a flexiblepoultry picking finger having a head, a necked-down portion adapted tobe received within and retained by said member, and an enlarged upperfinger extremity, the length of said necked-down portion beingapproximately equal to the axial length of said tubular member.

4. The combination as set forth in claim 3 wherein said necked-downportion is filleted at each of its extremities providing a roundedtransition between said necked-down portion, said head and said upperfinger extremity.

5. In combination with the support set forth in claim 1, a flexiblepoultry picking finger having a head, a necked-down portion adapted tobe received within and retained by said member, and an enlarged upperfinger extremity, the length of said necked-down portion beingapproximately equal to the axial length of said tubular member.

6. The combination as set forth in claim 5 wherein said necked-downportion is filleted at each of its extremities providing a roundedtransition between said necked-down portion, said head and said upperfinger extremity.

7. The support as set forth in claim 1 which further includes means forpreventing rotation of a finger installed in said tubular member withrespect to said tubular member.

8. The support as set forth in claim 7 wherein said preventing meanscomprises a pair of spaced rails affixed to the interior extremity ofsaid member.

9. In combination with the support as set forth in claim 8, a flexiblepicking finger having a head adapted to nest between said rails whensaid finger is installed in said tubular member on said support.

10. The support as set forth in claim 1 wherein said tubular member hasan axial length of approximately inch.

1. A flexible finger support for use with a mechanized poultry pickingapparatus, said support being hollow, formed from relatively thinmaterial and having a plurality of apertures therein for receiving andretaining flexible picking fingers, at least one of said aperturescomprising an open-ended tubular member fixedly mounted to said supportand communicating between the hollow interior and exterior thereof, saidtubular member having an axial length substantially exceeding thethickness of said support, said member forming an elongated aperturethrough said support adapted to receive and retain a flexible pickingfinger therewithin thereby increasing the otherwise available stresscontact area between said support and the finger affixed thereto.
 2. Thesupport as set forth in claim 1 wherein the interior axial extremitiesof said member are rounded.
 3. In combination with the sUpport set forthin claim 2, a flexible poultry picking finger having a head, anecked-down portion adapted to be received within and retained by saidmember, and an enlarged upper finger extremity, the length of saidnecked-down portion being approximately equal to the axial length ofsaid tubular member.
 4. The combination as set forth in claim 3 whereinsaid necked-down portion is filleted at each of its extremitiesproviding a rounded transition between said necked-down portion, saidhead and said upper finger extremity.
 5. In combination with the supportset forth in claim 1, a flexible poultry picking finger having a head, anecked-down portion adapted to be received within and retained by saidmember, and an enlarged upper finger extremity, the length of saidnecked-down portion being approximately equal to the axial length ofsaid tubular member.
 6. The combination as set forth in claim 5 whereinsaid necked-down portion is filleted at each of its extremitiesproviding a rounded transition between said necked-down portion, saidhead and said upper finger extremity.
 7. The support as set forth inclaim 1 which further includes means for preventing rotation of a fingerinstalled in said tubular member with respect to said tubular member. 8.The support as set forth in claim 7 wherein said preventing meanscomprises a pair of spaced rails affixed to the interior extremity ofsaid member.
 9. In combination with the support as set forth in claim 8,a flexible picking finger having a head adapted to nest between saidrails when said finger is installed in said tubular member on saidsupport.
 10. The support as set forth in claim 1 wherein said tubularmember has an axial length of approximately 3/8 inch.